Category Archives: Personal

I’m going to start to deviate from my usual NetApp-centric posts and just talk about what I’ve been up to on the geeky side of Chris. Out of the very limited list of podcasts I listen to, one of them is The Geek Whisperers which focuses not on specific technologies but rather on personal and professional advancement from a Geek’s point of view. Due to my association with the NetApp A-Team and NetApp’s acquisition of Solid Fire, I was lucky enough to find myself on a call with the inspirational Amy Lewis, a.k.a. CommsNinja, one of the hosts of TGW. We were discussing social media, personal development and other such things. Amy made a comment about how people should be blogging about more things that they’re interested in because you never know which members of your readership may have the same interests and it may also draw in new readers.

While the term Geek used to mean either “an unfashionable or socially inept person.” or “a carnival performer who performs wild or disgusting acts.”, these are no longer the de-facto definitions. These days, Geek will often refer to someone who “engages in or discusses computer-related tasks obsessively or with great attention to technical detail” and/or some who “is or becomes extremely excited or enthusiastic about a subject, typically one of specialist or minority interest”. It is definitely this latter one that me and my geek brethren identify with. While the stereotypical “geek” typically is also a “computer nerd”, I’m betting most, if not all of them have some pretty intense interest in some non-computer related hobbies as well. For example, here’s a list of interests I’ve obsessed over in the past five to ten years, some of which are current while others have passed or are waning.

Magic: The Gathering (This one is actually from about 20 years ago but has resurfaced now that I can play with my son)

This list is by no means exhaustive, but rather a glimpse into who I am. Personally, I find myself geeking out over so many different things, the hardest part about being a geek is finding the time to devote to such a plethora of hobbies, and then when something new comes up that strikes my fancy, finding time to fit that new one in. Maybe that’s what makes a geek a geek, someone who is willing to obsess over something that interests them until they get good at it or maybe a geek is just someone who loves to learn new things? I do find that often time my interests will somehow be related to the sciences in one way or another, be it math, physics or chemistry. I never thought I’d mention that last one until recently however when I started reading about soap making after a discussion about it with a newer co-worker; so stay tuned, there may be a soap making post in my future.

So why exactly am I posting this at all? Well I’m basically giving myself permission to post about whatever the heck I want, hopefully it’ll be enough to keep some people interested.